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Gone Girl: Police Say California Woman’s Kidnapping Wasn’t Real
Watching Rosamund Pike deliver a creepy performance of a psychotic, scorned wife who concocted her own kidnapping in Gillian Flynn’s movie adaptation of bestseller “Gone Girl” was thrilling. Her performance may have been so good, in fact, that it acted as inspiration for a California woman who was located after being reported kidnapped, in what police are now calling a hoax.
Denise Huskins, 29, was reported as having been kidnapped from her boyfriend’s home early Monday for an $8,500 ransom demand, and then inexplicably surfaced Wednesday, 420 miles south in Huntington Beach. The attorneys of Huskins’ boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, said the ransom demands were made only to him. They also stated that the abduction occurred between 3 and 5 a.m., but Quinn did not report it until noon because he had concerns for his girlfriend’s safety.
After interviewing both Quinn and Huskins, police issued a statement Wednesday stating that they have found “no evidence to support the claims” that the physical therapist was abducted. According to ABC News Vallejo Police Lt. Kenny Park said during a news conference Wednesday night:
All indications initially were that she would be cooperative with the investigation,but as of right now, we have not heard from Ms. Huskins.
“This is no hoax,” insists lawyer for Denise Huskins, but police suggest abduction was staged http://t.co/wi17vvxRbn pic.twitter.com/kJWMur5qoq
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) March 27, 2015
Huskins’ lawyer Douglas L. Rappaport is adamant that his client really was kidnapped, telling the LA Times:
She is a victim, and she is a woman who has been the victim of a violent crime and to a certain degree is being re-victimized.
Attorneys for Huskins’ boyfriend, Quinn, have also denied that the kidnapping was a hoax. Quinn told investigators that there were two kidnappers, and that they forcibly drugged and bound him. According to the LA Times, Quinn provided blood samples to the police to prove that he was truly drugged. He also provided his email account passwords and ended up being interrogated for 17 hours by FBI and police.
Police have referred to the incident as a “wild goose chase,” saying it was a complete waste of resources. Investigators are unsure of the couples motives for perpetuating the hoax, but the FBI is reportedly searching financial records for clues.
If this was, in fact, a kidnapping hoax, what kind of legal ramifications could Huskins and possibly Quinn face?
In other cases where individuals have faked their own kidnappings for various reasons, police have been known to charge them with making false alarms or making false claims, which can result in either a large fine and/or some jail time. Huskins’ case, however, is still developing and potential charges, if any, cannot yet be determined. One thing’s for sure, if Huskins did in fact fake her kidnapping, she could have learned a thing or two from Flynn’s “Gone Girl” character about meticulous planning.
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